The Victorians Decoded at the Guildhall Art Gallery

Hello all our lovely followers! It's officially autumn - the days are cooler, the leaves are starting to turn, and most importantly, it's a new season for exhibitions! Hooray! There are so many exciting things to see over the next few months - but as you must know by now, we are very partial to the Victorians and anything Victoriana. So first on our list has to be The Victorians Decoded at the Guildhall Art Gallery. We fell in love with the gallery a few years ago during their Victoriana: The Art of Revival exhibition, so we were very excited for some more 19th century fun. This time teemed up with KCL and the Courtauld Institute the exhibition aimed to incorporate science and technology (namely the laying of the Transatlantic Cable) into how we see Victorian art. But does it succeed? 

In 1858, the first Transatlantic cable was laid, which allowed Queen Victoria and the President of the United States, James Buchanan, to exchange the first ever official transatlantic telegram. Unfortunately the line went down a few weeks later, but finally in 1866, a more permanent cable was established. Telegraph technology was not only handy for heads of state to exchange formalities, the speed of information sharing had significant effects on the world economy and the way everyday life was experienced. The Victorians Decoded sets out to discover how telegraph technology revolutionized life in the nineteenth century, and how this was captured by art. The exhibition is structured around four thematic focuses: Distance, Transmission, Coding and Resistance. 

We love exhibitions which combine art and science. Having King's College London as a partner not only contributes to the research aspect, but allows KCL to show off some of its impressive object collections. Your first real 'wow' moment on entering the exhibition is a striking collection of Daniel cells which, together, form an early battery. This metal behemoth was used to send electrical impulse down the miles of transatlantic cables. The first room themed around 'distance' is filled with seascapes, including some impressive Henry Moore paintings. Personally, the most exciting were the large maps visualizing the rapidly increasing networks of telegraph lines over the closing decades of the nineteenth century. 

In the main exhibition space, two small cases of objects are surrounded by large scale paintings. I particularly enjoyed the case featuring books of code, showing how the use of codes became a part of everyday life. But this is kind of where the literal connection between the cable and the art kind of comes to an end. The paintings in each thematic space link only really metaphorically to the endeavour of the cable, and some more tenuously than others. This work by Tissot (above), called The Last Evening, and appropriately set on a ship, considers the social codes which governed Victorian interactions. A beautiful piece by Frederick Leighton called The Music Lesson, considers how the vibrations of the guitar into music can be related to the passing of electrical signals along the cable. We kind of doubt Leighton was thinking about telegraphy when he painted this, but we definitely get the comparison. More tenuous might be the piece about the constructions of the pyramids in which the effort is compared to the difficulty of laying the cable. Or in which the Mayor's Parade is seen as a 'transmission of tradition'.

You do get the sense that themes were selected, and curators trawled through the collections of the Guildhall, the Courtauld, and Royal Holloway for things even loosely linked to what was being discussed. So - distance, the sea, a seascape by Henry Moore. I had maybe expected to see more art directly influenced by improved communications, maybe something slightly more about travel, or even set in telegraph offices. But then again I'm just a very literal person, and not an art historian, so perhaps I'm just too literal for this exhibition. Then again, if the purpose was to show off the spectacular Courtauld and Guildhall collections of late nineteenth century art, it certainly does that to excellent effect.

In the end, Victorians Decoded is a bit more art than it is science, so it depends on what exactly you are after. As an exhibition of nineteenth century painting, it brings together a diverse and fascinating collections of works for you to consider in a new light. I can't help but wish there was a bit more of an object focus to it, but then again if you wanted to see that you would probably be in the Information Age Gallery and not the Guildhall. In either case, the artworks are stunning, and the rationale behind it, to think more broadly about the influence of telegraphy, is certainly original. All in all, Victorians Decoded is definitely worth a visit as a celebration of an important milestone as well as the chance to see some iconic nineteenth century paintings in a new light. Worth the trip just for the giant painting of attacking polar bears, because, why not. 

Ministry Decree: Celebrate Museums at Night

In case you haven’t noticed we can’t get enough of Museum’s here at The Ministry of Curiosity, so we’re pretty psyched about three day of festivities all in the name of after-hours museum loving. Run by Culture24 and with events across the country the annual celebration aims to encourage new visitors into museums, galleries and heritage sites - surely it should be made a national holiday? London’s museums expect to be thriving across the next few days and choosing events from the extensive list is sure to be a challenge. But not to worry, your Ministry is here to help and we have picked out a few of our fav events. See you there?

 Museum Mile Walk 15th and 16th May 

One Museum visit is never enough! Thanks to GoToMidtown you can spend a bright (not going to lie it’s probably going to rain) evening walking the Museum mile and visiting three of its iconic museums the Library and Museum of Freemasonry, the Courtauld Gallery and the Hunterian Museum. It’s a freebie and occurs on Thursday and Friday but places are limited and admission to the walk is ticket only. 

Find out more here… http://www.inmidtown.org/walks/join

Brunel Museum - Theatre of Blood, Dance of Death, Water of Life & Midnight Apothecary Special. 15th, 16th and 17th May

How exciting does this event sound? Alongside the Brunel’s Museums regularly Midnight Apothecary event The Pandemonium Theatre bring their acclaimed shows to the Underground Chamber of the Museum on Thursday and Friday. And on Saturday ‘Some Bodies Gonna Swing for this!’ perform a dance of death and you can dance the night away with the legendary Nikki Santilli. All of this excitement plus the Midnight Apothcary where you can sample cocktails based on ingredients from the museums gardens. Screw Shoreditch this is where you should be spending your weekend.

http://www.brunel-museum.org.uk/events/full-list-of-events/

UCL Museum Murder mystery Friday 16th May

UCL are known for their innovative and engaging museum events from pub quizzes and death drawing to last year’s Museum at Night treasure hunt the University collections rarely disappoint. For this year’s Museums at Night their celebrations centre around the discovery of a murder on campus. Teams of up to five are invited to dress up explore the extensive collections for clues and solve the mystery. We reckon it was the Moles in the Jar with the formaldehyde.

Guildhall big power nap Friday 16th May

Engaging the very tired city workers in their vicinity the Guildhall Gallery have turned their museum into a chillout zone for Museums at Night. The Big Power Nap is a chance to feel as comfortable in the galleries as your own front room and get that much needed party nap before your Friday night out on the tiles. Sounds like bliss!

For an extensive list check out our events calendar

And find out more about Culture 24 Museums at Night: http://www.culture24.org.uk/places-to-go/museums-at-night

Chanelling our inner steam-punk at Victoriana: The Art of Revival

Here at the Ministry we tend not to write reviews of the events we attend. Why? It seems cruel- because you have already missed out on your chance to be there. But in this case you will just have to suffer through your jealousy, because we are dying to tell you all about the Guildhall Art Gallery’s Neo-Victorian Ball in honour of its current exhibition, Victoriana: The Art of Revival.

The ladies swoon for the Lion of London- or was it because of the corsets?

It was a mild October evening when the Guildhall, that majestic symbol of the City of London’s government since the 15^th century, was descended upon by a motley crew in Victorian garb. The Guildhall’s medieval crypts seemed perfectly suited to the corseted and top-hatted audience. We watched the Lion of London perform feats of amazing strength and gentlemanly courage. The Dead Victorians performed rousing music-hall numbers while live drawing took place by candlelight. I cannot image how many bottles of prosecco and rosewater cocktails were consumed in the evening, but based on my own experience, I think we can safely assume a lot.

Wait, what year is this?!

The atmosphere of frivolity perfectly enhanced the purpose of the evening’s events: to promote the Victoriana exhibition. The displays are centred around four themes which embody some of the things we find so fascinating about the Victorians today: neo-Victorian Identity (like corsets, lace and tattoos), time travel (and the steam-punk movement), cute and curious (the macabre element) and the re-imagined parlour (the home and decorative objects). You are welcomed into the exhibition by a marble bust of the great General Gordon, only adorned with the requisitely complex steam-punk goggles. Next up you’ll find a Victorian taxidermy scene in its wood box, only this display contains a hidden camera to another area of the gallery rather than a taxidermy centre piece. Down the stairs you sweep past a marble statue surrounded by ‘fairies’ or rather bees which swing unnervingly around the artwork.

The exhibition does a fantastic job of incorporating the wide variety of media to explore the ways in which the Victorian era continued to captivate artists today. Sculpture and photography are particularly prevalent, but I particularly enjoyed the incorporation of ink on paper graphics as well as fashion. The art also seemed to incorporate a very lively sense of humour: something you may not necessarily have expected from an exhibition about the Victorians. Despite their staid social morals, artists looking back on this era seem to feel confident being self-referential, transgressive, sexual and even downright funny. Extra points if you can spot the William Morris joke in cartoon, saving the day with perfect symmetry.

It’s of course also worth remembering that the Victorians were not so different to ourselves. We might remember a Queen all in black and a grand vision of empire: but the Victorians were also known for their raunchy songs, music-hall debauchery, business acumen and amazing ability to push beyond the bounds of possibility. It has been widely noted that we are now the New Victorians, and the Art of Revival exhibition serves to highlight all the ways we continue to be fascinated and inspired by the Victorians before us. Also, that adults really really like playing dress-up. 

 Maybe it’s my own inner steam-punk personality, but I can safely say that Victoriana is one of my favourite art exhibitions this year. You may not get to swoon over Leopold or dance the waltz in the crypts, but there’s nothing to stop you from getting your corset and goggles on and heading down to the Guildhall!

As if we needed an excuse to dress up. 

Victoriana: The Art of Revival is on at the Guildhall Art Gallery through the 8^th of December. Also don’t miss out on upcoming events like the Victoriana Film Series at Birkbeck or the Victorian Christmas family event on the 1^st of December.